The Good Shepherd | Page 4

men had heard the king, they went away to Bethlehem, and lo, the star went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. And they rejoiced with great joy. And when they were come into the house (there was room in the inn now) they saw the young Child with Mary, His mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him, and they gave Him their presents--gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. But the wise men did not go back to Herod. God told them in a dream not to go. So they went home by another way instead.
After the wise men were gone, the angel of the Lord came to Joseph in his sleep, and said to him, 'Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.' That meant to kill Him. So Joseph at once got up, and took the young Child and His mother by night, and went away to Egypt.
When Herod found that the wise men did not come back, he was very angry, and he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem, and had all the baby boys killed--all the children who were less than two years of age. And they killed all the baby boys in the places near Bethlehem as well. And the poor mothers cried, and nobody could comfort them.
Joseph and Mary stayed in Egypt, waiting for the angel to bring them word that it was time to go back again to Palestine. And one night, when Jesus was about three years old, the message came. The angel of the Lord said to Joseph in a dream, 'Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young Child's life.' Joseph got up, and took the young Child and His mother, and went into the land of Israel. But when he came there, people said to him, 'Herod is dead, but his son Archelaus is king.' And when Joseph knew that Archelaus was king, he was afraid to stay in Judaea. And God spoke to him again in a dream, and told him to go back to Galilee. So Joseph and Mary went back to Galilee, and lived in Nazareth again.
CHAPTER III
THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS
The Bible tells us only a few stories about the time when Jesus was a little boy.
Nazareth is built up the side of a hill, and there are plenty of gardens and fields down below. Amongst these fields there is a fountain, where the women of Nazareth go to fetch water. Jesus must often have gone with His mother to that fountain; and sometimes, when she was tired, He may have fetched the water for her Himself.
[Illustration: Nazareth, from hill above.]
Mary wore a long blue dress, tied round the waist, and a cap with pieces of money sewn round it, and a white cloth over her head and shoulders, just as the women of Nazareth do now; and Jesus was very likely dressed in a red cap, a bright tunic, a sash of many colours, and a little jacket of white or blue, just as the boys of Nazareth are dressed now.
The houses of Nazareth are white. Grape vines grow over their walls, and doves sit and coo on the flat roofs. There is not much inside the houses: sometimes they have only one room. There is a lamp in the middle of the room, and round the walls there are waterpots. There are bright-coloured quilts on a shelf. People unroll these quilts at night and lie down upon them. There are mats and carpets in the house, and a bright-coloured box with treasures in it, and a painted wooden stool; and that is nearly all.
[Illustration: Jewish women grinding corn.]
When the people of the house want to eat, they put a tray of food on the wooden stool, and they sit round the tray on the floor, and eat with their hands. People in Palestine would not know what to do with tables and chairs, and knives and forks, like ours.
The streets of Nazareth are long and narrow, and they are full of chickens and dogs, of donkeys and camels, of blind beggars and children. There are little shops by the side of the streets, something like the leewans in the inn which I told you about. But the tailors, the shoemakers, the carpenters, and the coffee-grinders do not always sit in their shops. They like to sit on the ground outside, and do their work in the street; and the sellers of dates and of figs, beans, barley, oranges, and other things, sit down in the street to sell their